College Freshman - How to Prepare for your Son's First Year in College

Be the best parent a first year college student could hope for

So your son has just graduated after four years of high school and is preparing to begin his next life phase: college. As a parent, you remember the excitement and fears that went along with starting that freshman year, so you want to be as helpful and supportive as possible. However, a parent’s concern can easily morph them into what is known as a “helicopter parent.”

Give your College Son a little wiggle-room

This is a relatively new term, but describes a type of parent that has been around in some form or another for a long time. This parent hovers. Mom and/or Dad is always there, asking the student questions, telling them where to go and what to do, telling them what classes they should take, how they should behave...one story involves a student whose mother stayed in a hotel for the first two weeks of her son’s freshman year, went into his room to wake him up for class every morning, and sat in the back of all his lectures. The college literally bought her a plane ticket and told her to go home.
 

You can be the Dream College Parent too!

While this story is extreme and you may not be a helicopter parent, you can still have trouble letting go and worry that maybe you’re not giving your son enough space, or maybe you’re giving him too much space and he feels abandoned. Where is the line? This book breaks down some mental steps you can take to give your son room to breathe while still being emotionally available for some of the biggest life adjustments he has yet faced.

The first step towards becoming a good parent of a freshman is to make a conscious effort to yield up control over your son’s life, from things as small as setting a curfew to giving advice about anything and everything that is going on. This is not limited to just zipping your lip around your son, but is a commitment to yourself to start working through fears and anxieties about your son’s current life and future.




Tags: College Freshman, College Kid, College Parent, First Year Student, College First year, Freshman Parent, Son in College